Obsolete - Chapter 3

The calm beating of her heart was at odds with the one pounding desperately beneath her gloved palm. She let her breath escape in a malevolent hiss as he struggled to remove her hand from his throat. His fingernails scrabbled uselessly on the matte black, reinforced fabric of her uniform. His mouth opened, his eyes bulging, the vein in his temple prominent – and she let go. He slid down the wall and fell to his knees, coughing, gulping in the air so justly deprived from his lungs. As soon as he could breathe normally again, he lunged at her with a hoarse roar.

She smiled, her lips curling into a feral grin as she drew back one fist.

She heard the crack as her knuckles connected with his chest, and felt the bones shatter. She stepped back as he convulsed once, twice as the jagged pieces of bone punctured his lungs and he fell to the ground and died.

She rolled him over with her foot, cocking her head to one side like a curious child as she flexed her fingers, attempting to rid them of the tension. She then happened to notice the trickle of blood leaking from the corner of his mouth and grimaced, not that anyone else was there to see it. At least it hadn’t dripped. No trace, but not the cleanest of assassinations she had performed.

Her hand strayed deftly to the one of the many silver bars aligned on her belt like frets on the neck of a guitar. Her finger slid over one, and it pulsed beneath her fingertips, just like the man’s carotid artery when he was alive. She sighed, her breath coming out misted in the chilly air, and she took her hand away, her glove glowing faintly at the edges, like the outline of some ghostly apparition.

She crouched beside the body and passed her hands over his open eyes, trying not to shudder as she unwittingly glanced into them. The glow from her hand disappeared into his skin and he began to disintegrate.

She stepped back slowly, watching the eerie glow do its work and within seconds there was nothing left, not even a bit of dust to mingle into air when a soft breeze slipped its way past the door, whispering its mournful melody.

It was like he never existed.

She spun on her heel, her glance scanning over untouched surfaces, no corner of the room evaded her watchful gaze. There, she spotted the bleeding teen laying on her side, breathing shallowly as she tried to shift to a different position without moving her broken arm. She blinked quickly, her murky green eyes glistening with unshed tears, widened in panic as Deux approached.

She grit her teeth valiantly, biting back the rest of the soft whimpers that had managed to escape her lips as Deux drew closer.

Deux kneeled, setting a firm hand on her shoulder to keep her from moving. It was then she inhaled sharply, noticing the neat circle from which crimson slowly seeped out, staining her alabaster skin. She gazed down impassively at the girl, who was trembling with mixed pain and fear.

There was a heavy silence as she continued to assess the damage, her keen gaze roving over the rest of the girl’s body. She brushed a long lock of auburn aside, tucking it behind her ear. She wanted to tell her it was going to be okay, it was going to be fine. But instead, she bit her tongue, and smiled; even though she knew the girl could not see it, she hoped that perhaps a glimmer of kindness, of reassurance would be conveyed. She passed her hand over another fret on her belt, and reached out to press her fingers gently on girl’s forehead, which was beaded with perspiration.

The girl’s eyes fluttered, her mouth slackened, and her breathing slowed as she drifted off to a painless sleep. She’d wake up, as healthy as ever with no memory of the incident.

Deux rose, and spun to leave, checking things one last time. Nothing left. So she darted down the steps, her feet skimming over them so quickly the sound came in a blur, seconds after she had already gone.

She stepped out of the building, suddenly aware of the presence near her. She whirled, her nerves tingling, her muscles tensing as she waited on perched wings.

“Deux?”

Deux relaxed then, recognizing the voice, and waited for her to step out of her hiding place. “Stalking me now, are you, Duo?” she whispered, knowing that the other had sensitive hearing enough to pick it up over the wind.

The casual reply floated over to her. “Nah. I was just taking a leisurely stroll through the neighborhood.”

“Ah. What a coincidence,” said Deux, playing along. A mischievous smirk playing upon her lips as they began to walk.

“So, how are you?” wondered Duo, surreptitiously shifting closer to Deux as a brisk gust of wind blew their hair back from their faces.

“No different from last time.”

“Relaxed?”

“Relatively.”

“Did it hurt?”

“No. Like I said, it takes a while. Sooner or later you won’t feel a thing.”

“I suppose it doesn’t feel as bad when you know they deserve it.”

“Exactly,” said Deux, her breath billowed up into the pitch black sky, the smoky tendrils reaching towards the stars she could not see.

“At least,” Duo muttered, mostly to herself, “That’s what I have to keep telling myself.”

Deux said nothing. Perhaps she did not hear.

They slowed to a stop at a quiet intersection and waited for the light to change, despite the fact that there were no cars in sight – something everyone was still trying to adjust to. Cars were pretty much unheard of these days, having been whipped away with the past as quickly as the future had come. Though the rich still had their hybrids, they were only allowed to drive it if it met the rigorous regulations.

They continued to stare off into the distance, refusing to look at the other, as an awkward silence befell and strengthened by the strange feeling of emptiness that came with the lack of familiar sounds of a busy, inhabited metropolis. As noisy as it once was, and as disturbingly dangerous – they had to admit they missed the sound of speeding cars.

Duo spotted sprinkles of artificial light in the distance, and faltered as they crossed the road. “That’s a welcome sight.” She glanced at Deux, who looked up at her in confusion.

Deux did not reply at first, her gaze intensifying into the far distance.

Duo watched as her fingers twirled nimbly in the frigid air, dancing around forms and images that only Deux could see. Fascinated by the odd behavior, she decided not to interrupt, sensing that, as amiable as she had been so far, Deux had another side she had not shown.

“Well it’s been ages since anyone’s seen Deux smile.”

Duo watched quietly, and couldn’t help but wonder what that other side was like. She rather liked this friendly Deux, this Deux that smiled. But something didn’t quite seem right. Perhaps tonight would be a night of more enlightenment.

And then in the blink of an eye, she was still.

“Deux?” she said tentatively.

“What?” she snapped.

“What’s going on?”

Deux shot a look at Duo – it was so piercing, so fierce, so brutal that Duo physically recoiled as if in pain.

Deux’s gaze softened slightly when she realized what she had just let slip and felt strange, new, different. It was not like her to be so overt. She looked away, tensing as the silence that followed became tainted with guilt. “Come on,” she said in a low voice, quickening her pace to a run.

so: much as you did with cigarettes, you have managed to make assassination (sp?) sexy. not that it wasnt before; it was quite sexy sans your help, but you managed to give it a make-over; new look, new attitude, new everything. (well, maybe not straight-up-nothing-of-its-kind-ever-before-in-the-history-of-the-universe new, but.... you get what i mean, right?)

i like that (in my opinion) the characters are human; not implying that they'd be aliens, but in the sence that your not making them impervious to life and the emotions/reactions that go with it. The fact that shes sort of ...queasy? is that the word? maybe. whatever shes feeling that isnt indifference when she killed the guy, i like that.

wow, my bad for the epic failure that was the non-existant conclusion/ending/what-have-you to that comment, my mom came up

anyways; i do like it. its descriptive enough (do not eveng get me going on descriptions, dear god i will not stop. EVAR. -stupd spelling intended-), but not overly so *cough*stephanie meyer could take a hint*cough*.

but yes, getting back to how i like that youve kept the characters human: you haven't turned them into james bond 'im badass watch me shoot you in the face whilst shaving and checking out that blonde whore your with' non-chalance. i dont want to just say non-sensical musings here, but feel its important. i dunno. id probably be able to have a really good rant about this (and you would be used as an exampel of HOW to do it, not how NOT to do it) if i thought about it for long enough, but its just past 11@night and id like to catch some angela sleep . ANYways; keep keepin' it real, babe.

and now onto less thought-requiring things; what is that sexy device that is her bat-belt??? and, where did he GO? i read that and was like '...woooooooow.' so, as another challenge for you: do a one-shot of that scene; something short, just the bit where she kills/disappears him, only unleash the full creepy potential that it has. i dunno, i thought about it for a second and got shivers. he just like... disappears, man O.o *cue sketchy hollywood music*

and-and: what DO these awesome kick-ass i-aspire-to-be-them femme fatales LOOK like? i mean, i know u and annie and my-an are some of them (but my-an is a later number, yes?) so thus far ive got an asian crew, which is fine since they're all drop-dead gorgeous, but yeah. ...im thinking im going to add to flo's work and get her to draw them. or you could; its your story after all, and flos busy with our superhero one. (ps: im going to start working on that again; but im not sure whos pov i should do for ur samurai-sushi-scene; any suggestions? -itd be one of us; not u, sry-)

Aw. That's okay. =DHaha, will do. Now that you mention it -- I always try to make it so that the characters are more real than you would otherwise have them. I am particularly interested in psychology, and just human emotions, consciousness in general. I like depth, in characters, and in real people. So... yeah.

LOL, it's like her utility belt. The high-tech-ness rests unexplained, I don't really want to go all sci-fi on it. But yeah, basically, he just disintegrates. Maybe some kind of fast-decaying virus? That eats away the corpse and then disappears itself.

I've been drawing some of them out. Might show them eventually. We'll see. They're all just prototypes right now. I tend to leave description of my main characters non-existant, or at least, very vague (most I'll get to is like... dark eyes, dark hair, at most). I might reveal in the end, what they look like, or in the character list, have a detailed profile written out or something.